By Charmaine Ndlela
The ANC has welcomed the KwaZulu-Natal High Court ruling that found Chief Albert Luthuli was brutally beaten to death by the apartheid police in 1967.
This after Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe overturned an inquest on Thursday which concluded that the former ANC president died after being hit by a train.
The inquest into Luthuli’s death was reopened earlier this year.
“The Court, presided over by Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe, affirmed that both oral and documentary evidence presented in the reopened inquest do not support those discredited findings,” said ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu.
“The ruling restores historical integrity and strengthens our nation’s collective memory… His spirit continues to guide our journey of national renewal and social transformation.”
In April 2025, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) enrolled a new inquest into the death of Chief Luthuli.
Born in 1898, Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli died on 21 July 1967 at the age of 69.
The apartheid government claimed he had been knocked down by a steam train near his home in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal.
Luthuli rose to national prominence in 1937 when the Department of Native Affairs appointed him as Chief of the Zulu tribe in Groutville.
An inquest held on 19 September 1967, presided over by Magistrate C.I. Boswell, found no evidence of criminal culpability on the part of any South African Railways employees or any other person.
At the time of his death, Luthuli was president-general of the then-banned ANC and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, honoured in 1960 for his leadership in the non-violent struggle against apartheid.
“The ruling affirms what the ANC, the liberation movement, and the oppressed people of South Africa have always known — that Chief Luthuli was a victim of state-sanctioned murder. It is a moral victory not only for his family but for all martyrs of our struggle whose lives were cut short by the cruelty of apartheid,” said Bhengu.
“The ANC calls on all South Africans to reflect on this moment as a reminder of the sacrifices made for our democracy, and to rededicate ourselves to the ongoing task of building a just, united and prosperous South Africa.”
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